>> and from all of us, thanks for watching. we'll see you at 6:00. >> buy for now. tonight on "world news," force of nature, a strange storm in new york, a parade of hurricanes tearing across the ocean, is this evidence of the new age of global warming? force of politics. sarah palin hits iowa. tea party candidates surging against the democrats in three states, and the newest arrival enters the national spotlight today. comedy and challenge. jon stewart announces a big washington rally of his own throwing down a gauntlet on what is fact, what is fury. and our "person of the week," a 9-year-old commanding the attention of the powerful. good evening. as we came on the air last

night, we knew a strange storm was descending on new york. but we now know it was something rarely seen in the past 50 years. trees torn up. roofs torn off. cars crushed in a matter of seconds at rush hour. the national weather service experts are puzzling whether it was a tornado evoking that iconic picture in 1976, the tornado near the statue of liberty. after that the armada of hurricanes in the atlantic, and we asked dan harris to look into what this strange weather means, and he's in the middle of the damage tonight. dan? >> reporter: diane, good evening. we're coming to you from queens, a neighborhood that got hit very hard by this storm. as you know, this is not a part of the world where they're used to tornadoes which is why this storm has so many people scratching their heads tonight. >> oh, my god. this is crazy. >> reporter: in a metropolitan area saturated with smartphone video cameras, this storm was captured from so many angles including these pictures, which we saw only today, from angela

delgado, who captured what looks like a funnel cloud outside her window. >> am i really in jersey? is this really supposed to happen in new jersey? >> reporter: this storm, which brought high winds and lightning strikes, did an enormous amount of damage in only about 15 minutes shutting down the nation's largest commuter rail line, delaying more than 300 flights and knocking down more than a thousand trees. one woman was killed when a tree fell on her parked car right after she traded seats with her husband, who survived. >> i keep thinking about is this poor woman going about her life and all of a sudden snuffed out. >> reporter: the storm started in the rockies spawning tornadoes and softball-size hail as it moved from kansas to ohio by thursday before barreling into new york city. it comes after a rough run of extreme weather all over the planet. in the u.s. it's been the hottest year ever with major atlantic hurricanes showing up further to the east and to the south than ever before due to

record sea surface temperatures. climate scientists have long predicted that as the climate warms up, there will be more frequent extreme weather, although the length between frequent tornadoes and climate change is still being explored. today in new york city, debra delillo, who showed us her busted cars, said she's never seen anything like it. >> around 6:00, it got dark and the wind just picked up and all of a sudden there were crashes everywhere. it was like being in "the wizard of oz." >> reporter: we tend to associate twisters with places like kansas but they do happen in cities too. there have been seven to hit new york city since 1950 including one that came right near the stature of liberty. we did learn that a tornado touched down as part of that same storm system over the border in new jersey, so very unusual and very destructive. >> just a wicked wind whipping through new york. thank you so much, dan harris, tonight. and we move overseas to pope benedict carrying on with

his visit to britain despite a terror scare in london. police there arrested six men today holding them as possible terror suspects but not charging them yet. the men were rounded up at a raid at a garbage depot after a tip, and our lama hasan reports from london. >> reporter: at 5:45 this morning armed officers moved in. their target, five algerian street cleaners about to begin their shift. authorities confirmed the men were being held on terror charges related to the pope's visit. the pope himself spending the night just two miles from the scene of the commotion. by afternoon a sixth man also linked to the investigation was taken in for questioning. but police say raids on homes and offices in central london so far haven't revealed weapons or hazardous materials. [ applause ] >> reporter: despite the arrest, the pope's day packed with public events continues uninterrupted.

the pope reaching out to his flocks. >> we can say that we are totally confident in the work of the police, of scotland yard. >> reporter: but from the moment the pontiff arrived on uk soil, he had been surrounded by vatican guards. he's traveled in a bulletproof popemobile, and police have been out in full force swarming the streets. these measures were reviewed today. no changes were made. lama hasan, abc news, london. and a startling story today about a husband and wife who used to work at a nuclear lab in the united states. they were arrested today charged with conspireing to help develop a nuclear weapon for venezuela. they worked at the los alamos national lab in new mexico. the couple are now 75 and 67 years old. they're accused of passing classified nuclear information to an agent they thought was a venezuelan official and telling him that the documents were

had 0 worth millions of dollars. and a new spotlight on the tea party in the november elections today. tonight former governor sarah palin will speak at the key presidential tate of iowa. and polls show tea parties ahead of the democrats in alaska, florida and pennsylvania. and the newest entry from delaware, christine o'donnell, took to the new stage. jake tapper has been looking into that. jake? >> reporter: good evening, diane. well, some officials here at the white house and across town at the republican national committee were convinced that whatever hopes the republican party had of recapturing the senate were dashed when christine o'donnell became their nominee for the senate seat in delaware but christine o'donnell is doing everything she can to prove them wrong. vice president biden went north to wilmington, delaware, today to campaign with the democrat he hopes will take the senate seat he once held. republican nominee christine o'donnell was warmly welcomed in washington, d.c., at the values voters summit.

there today she tried to turn attacks into a plus. >> the small elite don't get us. they call us wacky. they call us wing nuts. we call us we the people. >> reporter: trying to turn questions about her finances and her credibility into an assault by an out-of-touch ruling class on ordinary americans of faith. >> will they attack us? yes. will they smear our backgrounds and distort our records? undoubtedly. >> reporter: it is to a degree working. o'donnell claims to have raised $1.6 million through her website since her victory tuesday night and she's taken opportunities like last night's candidates forum in delaware to explain comments from her previous life as a conservative activist. such as this clip from mtv in 1996. >> the bible says that lust in your heart is committing adultery, so you can't masturbate without lust. >> i was in my 20s and very excited and passionate about my new-found faith, but i assure you my faith has matured,

and when i go to washington, d.c., it'll be the constitution on which i base all of my decisions. >> she's doing a very good job to try to marginalize a lot of the things that have come out about her. >> reporter: but o'donnell's opponents will have a vast trove of very controversial comments to use against her, ones that may not play so well in the blue state of delaware. and, diane, more on that fund-raising dinner in iowa with sarah palin. the white house today called her the most formidable force in the republican party and suggested that she is dipping a toe in the presidential waters, diane. >> okay, jake, thank you. and at the white house today, as you know, president obama made it official naming the passionate wall street critic elizabeth warren to set up a brand-new consumer protection agency. as we reported last night, she's the daughter of an oklahoma janitor. she became a harvard professor and an advocate for the middle class, and now she'll have a budget of $400 million a year and almost 1,000 employees to

tackle issues like credit card fees, so i asked her about her priorities for the american consumer. what's the first thing you promise you're going to get done in this job? >> oh, the first thing i'm going to promise is that i'm going to be a voice in the room on behalf of middle class families, and if that means i'm going to be wowed or unwelcome at any point, so be it. >> what is the first thing you're going to tackle? >> let's talk about credit cards. in 1980, a typical credit card agreement was about a page and a half long. now they can run as long as 30 pages, and they're full of fine print, and what's buried in the fine print, a trick here, a trap there. it's not right. it's not fair, and, frankly, it shouldn't be legal. >> but to the critics who say that you're coming to punish the banking industry? >> well, it's not to punish. the point is to say, those who want to be honest and fair in

their dealings should not have to compete with those who don't want to be honest and fair in their dealings. >> those who are afraid of your arrival, for instance, assistant treasury secretary in the bush administration who said that cracking down on wall street means some people won't get a loan. there are jobs that won't be created. cars that won't be sold. >> can we just refrain what that seems to be saying? if he's really saying if we can't trick them, we won't lend money to them, surely that's not what he means, but that is sure what that statement seems to suggest. >> did the president side-step a fight by appointing you this way? >> i don't think so. we could spend a year talking about the confirmation process. now, i actually would never be allowed to talk during this, and more importantly, i wouldn't be allowed to work during it. the alternative is he said you can get to work tomorrow if you don't care much about titles. and i said, mr. president, that's the job i want.

>> what about your family? what are you going to be thinking about? >> you know, i have two little granddaughters, and we got a baby on the way, a third one. they're the ones i do this for. this is what i've worked on. this is what i've studied. this is the family i come from. the system is broken now, and it's crushing families all across this country. >> elizabeth warren arriving in washington. a crucial day in afghanistan tomorrow. parliamentary elections amid a vicious taliban campaign of intimidation. 30 kidnappings today alone, and some of the candidates, women, have decided to put their lives on the line. nick schifrin is in afghanistan. >> reporter: for a woman, running for office in afghanistan means risking your life. naheed ahmed farid is one of those women. farid's office is protected by gunmen. her rallies are all inside because it's too dangerous for

her to campaign outside, and on some days, she can only hold private events down back alleys. have you received any threats? have you received any intimidation? >> yes, yeah, i received a lot, but i think we have all -- we have enough courage to just step them back and go ahead, go forward for the future of afghanistan. >> reporter: of 2,500 candidates there is a record 430 women running this year for 68 seats reserved for them. nearly all say their lives have been threatened and some of their campaign workers have been killed. farid's face has been ripped off of posters. the intimidation comes from the taliban, who still burn down girls' schools, but it also comes from her opponents. gangland politics in a still fragile, young democracy. there are a lot of security risks for you. >> yes. >> reporter: is it worth the risk?

>> we have to be brave, and we have to accept any risks that we are going to have. >> reporter: farid was born here, but got her masters from george washington university. her campaign color is green, which stands for progress here. she never considered staying in the u.s. despite the dangers, which are constant. a few hours after our interview, a bomb exploded just a few miles away, but for farid, there is no letting up because she wants afghan women to be celebrated on campaign posters and not covered by a burqa. nick schifrin, abc news, herat. >> and tomorrow is the day. and still ahead on "world news," jon stewart planning his own rally in washington. and who is our 9-year-old "person of the week"? at purina one, we want your dog to be as healthy as possible. so, we set out to discover the science in some of nature's best ingredients.

we created purina one with smartblend. new, delicious shredded morsels and crunchy bites, with real meat, wholesome grains and antioxidants, for strong muscles, vital energy, a healthy immune system, and a real difference in your dog. purina one improved with smartblend. discover what one can do. it helps to eat calcium-rich foods like yogurt, spinach, and cheese. but calcium, vitamin d and exercise may not be enough to keep your bones strong. so ask your doctor about once-monthly boniva. boniva works with your body to help stop and reverse bone loss. studies show, after one year on boniva that's exactly what it did for nine out of ten women. and that's what it did for me. (announcer) don't take boniva if you problems with your esophagus, low blood calcium, severe kidney disease, or can't sit or stand for at least one hour. follow dosing instructions carefully. stop taking boniva and tell your doctor if you have difficult or painful swallowing, chest pain or severe or continuing heartburn,

as these may be signs of serious upper digestive problems. if jaw problems or severe bone, joint, and/or muscle pain develop, tell your doctor. i've got this one body and this one life, so i'm glad boniva helped me stop losing and start reversing. ask your doctor about boniva today. (announcer) to get one month free, plus more tips and recipes, visit boniva.com or call 1-800-4-boniva. [ male announcer ] ever have morning pain slow you down? introducing bayer am, an extra strength pain reliever with alertness aid to fight fatigue. so get up and get goin'! with new bayer am. the morning pain reliever. when pain keeps you up, nothing is proven to help you fall asleep faster than advil pm liqui-gels. rushing real liquid relief to ease you to sleep fast. for nighttime pain, make advil pm your #1 choice. the country's most famous funny newsman, a satirist, wants you to circle your calendar for

october 30th for real. jon stewart used last night's "daily show" to announce he is now hosting a march on washington, what he calls a rally to restore sanity. clearly his challenge, his latest one, to fox news and glenn beck. here's sharyn alfonsi. >> we will gather on the national mall in washington, d.c., a million moderate march. >> reporter: he's calling it the rally to restore sanity. >> but am i the right type of person to go to this rally? the fact that you would even stop to ask yourself that question as opposed to just let's say jumping up, grabbing the nearest stack of burnable holy books, strapping on a diaper and just pointing your car towards d.c., that means i think you just might be right for it. >> reporter: is the rally just intended to poke fun at glenn beck? >> i mean, beck in many ways is the direct inspiration. >> reporter: chris smith wrote the cover story on stewart for

this month's "new york" magazine. >> he sees this rally as theater. >> reporter: and fox news is clearly his favorite foil. >> that's not good. >> reporter: but beyond the jokes, stewart is serious about holding fox news accountable. >> he's become a fact checker and a goad to do better work. >> reporter: after all, it was stewart who noticed the story on fox that made a health care rally appear larger than it was. >> if i wouldn't have known better i would think they just put two different days together and acted like they didn't. >> reporter: and when fox questioned the money trail of the so-called ground sear mosque, stewart countered. >> you use the same logic to actually link fox news with dangerous saudi money. >> reporter: for fox's part, they dismissed stewart as simply entertainment, and while he may be aiming for the funny bone, he's clearly struck a nerve with millions of fans. >> i am not afraid of muslims,

tea partyers, socialists, immigrants, gun owners, gays, but i am kind of scared of spiders. >> reporter: likely to heed his call to rally. sharyn alfonsi, abc news, new york. and coming up, dr. richard besser and his investigation that got congress to take action. mom, new shoes? old legs. p.a.d., the doctor said. p-a-d... p.a.d. isn't just poor circulation in your legs causing you pain. it more than doubles your risk of a heart attack or stroke. i was going to tell you. if you have p.a.d., plavix can help protect you from a heart attack or stroke. plavix helps keep blood platelets from sticking together and forming clots, the cause of most heart attacks and strokes. call the doctor about plavix -- please? i will. [ male announcer ] certain genetic factors and some medicines such as prilosec reduce the effect of plavix leaving you at greater risk for heart attack and stroke. your doctor may use genetic tests to determine treatment. don't stop taking plavix without talking to your doctor

as your risk of heart attack or stroke may increase. people with stomach ulcers or conditions that cause bleeding should not use plavix. taking plavix alone or with some other medicines including aspirin may increase bleeding risk, so tell your doctor when planning surgery. tell your doctor all medicines you take including aspirin especially if you've had a stroke. if fever, unexplained weakness or confusion develops, tell your doctor promptly. these may be signs of ttp, a rare but potentially life-threatening condition, reported sometimes less than two weeks after starting plavix. other rare but serious side effects may occur. [ female announcer ] talk to your doctor about plavix. the medicine in advil is their #1 choice for pain relief. more than the medicines in tylenol or aleve. use the medicine doctors use for themselves. one more reason to make advil your #1 choice. we've been best friends since we were two. we've always been alike. [ lindy ] we even both have osteoporosis. but we're active. especially when we vacation, so when i heard about reclast,

the only once-a-year iv osteoporosis treatment, i called joni. my doctor said reclast helps restrengthen our bones to help make them resistant to fracture for twelve whole months. [ lindy ] and reclast is approved to help protect from fracture in many places: hip, spine, even other bones. [ male announcer ] you should not take reclast if you're on zometa, have low blood calcium, kidney problems. or you're pregnant, plan to become pregnant or nursing. take calcium and vitamin d daily. tell your doctor if you develop severe muscle, bone or joint pain, of if you have dental problems, as rarely jaw problems have been reported. the most common side effects include flu like symptoms, fever, muscle or joint pain and headache. nothing strengthens you like an old friendship. but when it comes to our bones, we both look to reclast. you've gotta ask your doctor once-a-year reclast. year-long protection for on-the-go women.

and the latest now on a "world news" investigation. last may dr. richard besser took a close look at the company's promise to expectant parents. if they bank their baby's cord blood, it can treat all kinds of diseases later. rich is here but first a little of that original report. >> reporter: we set out to answer a question. is an industry overpromising the life-saving powers of storing your baby's own cord blood? our undercover cameras captured the aggressive pitch at a free dinner. >> you have this one-time opportunity. if i was doing this day, i would definitely bank my cord blood. there is no doubt about it. >> reporter: the marketing to vulnerable expectant parents is everywhere. the claim, by paying thousands of dollars to bank your newborn's cord blood, you'll have a life insurance policy of sorts, that the stem cells you

store can be used to treat a list of deadly diseases your child may develop later in life. >> presently we treat over 80-life threaten diseases. >> reporter: but the nation's top scientists say that is not true. for most diseases you can't use your own child's cells. we challenged the biggest company. is it ethical to market stem cells as a biological life insurance policy? >> i don't think so. >> reporter: but here it is in his company's literature, biological insurance. >> and now you've got news on that front. >> i do. this week senator charles grassley -- he's a ranking member of the senate finance committee -- started an investigation. he sent letters to the four largest blood bank companies raising concerns about their marketing practices. let me share with you one of those letters. he said "after viewing the report by abc news, i'm writing to viacord to express my concern about what appears to be questionable statements in materials viacord

provides to the public," and he wants answers by the end of the month. >> all right. got some action on that front, and you're going to stick around because you have our very small but very -- >> persuasive. >> very persuasive person of the week. stay with us. we'll be back. but with advair, i'm breathing better. so now, i can join the fun and games with my grandchildren. great news! for people with copd, including chronic bronchitis, emphysema, or both, advair helps significantly improve lung function. while nothing can reverse copd, advair is different from most other copd medications because it contains both an anti-inflammatory and a long-acting bronchodilator, working together to help you breathe better. advair won't replace fast-acting inhalers for sudden symptoms and should not be used more than twice a day. people with copd taking advair may have a higher chance of pneumonia. advair may increase your risk of osteoporosis and some eye problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking advair. i had fun today, grandpa.

you and me both. if copd is still making it hard to breathe, ask your doctor if including advair will help improve your lung function for better breathing. get your first full prescription free and save on refills. how new is the new edge with myford touch? well you could never do this before. or this. or this. you definitely couldn't do this. play kate's mix. or this. temperature, 72 degrees. say hello to the new edge with myford touch.™ quite possibly the world's smartest crossover. ♪ [ male announcer ] giving up cigarettes can take more than willpower alone.

but today's a new day. for many, smoking is a treatable medical condition. so talk to your doctor about prescription treatment options and support. and this time, make it your time. ♪ now the healing power of touch just got more powerful. introducing precise from the makers of tylenol. precise pain relieving heat patch activates sensory receptors. it helps block pain signals for deep penetrating relief you can feel precisely where you need it most. precise. only from the makers of tylenol.

and finally our "person of the week." most people who come to capitol hill to lobby congress don't have to get out of school to do it, so who was that 9-year-old with here again dr. richard besser? >> reporter: there were the people you'd expect, elected officials, cancer specialists, but the loudest voice on the hill may have belonged to mollie ward, 9 years old. is this your first time to washington? yes. >> reporter: yes. >> yes. >> reporter: what do you think? >> it's fine. >> reporter: mollie was diagnosed with a rare pancreatic cancer before she turned 2. >> as a mother, it was just, you know, we felt like our hearts had been ripped out. >> to have cancer you have to be really brave because you get a lot of shots and you have to go through a lot of things. >> reporter: looking at mollie today, you wouldn't know doctors removed her spleen, half of her pancreas and blasted her with chemo and radiation. most children are given adult treatments in kid-size doses, but when mollie's cancer became

resistant to chemotherapy, her parents were faced with two choices, take her home take her home and make her last days comfortable or try to find a rare clinical trial. >> we were just devastated. i think you go through a certain kind of grieving process when you are actually given that kind of news. >> reporter: since 1980 only one new cancer drug was approved for children. by comparison, 50 were approved for adults. >> there are not enough children with cancer to really incentivize the industry to bring their expertise to the problem. >> reporter: mollie was one of the lucky few to find an experimental treatment. while pediatric cancers have increased by nearly 30% in the last 20 years, development of new drugs for kids is virtually nonexistent. >> we're given the opportunity to test this experimental phase one drug. you know, six, seven years later, here's where we are. she's living proof of experimental therapy and the miracle of what she is today. >> reporter: do you think you

were lucky? >> yes. i got the opportunity to get through cancer and not a lot of people do. >> reporter: so mollie, her family and her doctor came to the capitol. a little cancer crusader paying it forward. >> and so we choose the wonderful mollie ward, who, by the way, took part in a summit on childhood cancer on capitol hill. her extraordinary spirit shining through. we hope you have a truly wonderful weekend, and we'll see you here monday. tonight at 6:00 pg&e bows to pressure over releasing secret pipeline maps. but there are conditions. >> also, a deadly accident involving a car full of north bay high schoolers one driver has been arrested. >> and the increasingly

crowded california classrooms. a survey shows how wide spread this problem has become. >> and aerial ak crow batics part of a celebration fr a local landmark. good evening, pg&e is vowing to public pressure about high-risk pipelines in the wake of the san bruno tragedy. >> after arm twisting they appear ready to release a map showing where segments of the long pipelines are at risk. there are four of them one in san bruno and we can know the location of 96 more. david louie is live tonight. pg&e has been reluctant to do this. >> reporter: they have been arguing all along that it's against public safety in order to if they were to release top secret information. pressure has been unrelenting froma